Sunday, October 27, 2019

Hello
everyone, today I’m reviewing two films that are complete contrasts in
terms of content and storytelling style. Both are big star vehicles though.

First, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy in which Telugu
superstar Chiranjeevi plays Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy who led an uprising
against the British East India Company in the mid 1800s. This was before the
1857 revolt. To emphasise this point, his story is recounted here by Rani
Laxmibai of Jhansi in a speech with which she hopes to inspire HER men to fight
the British.

In
flashback form, Laxmibai takes us through the life of
Syeraa Narasimha Reddy, one among several once-powerful rulers in the
Telugu heartland who are being stripped of their power by
the British.

The common
people are reeling under the back-breaking taxation policies of the British,
when the hero sets out to unite his fellow rulers and the farmers against
these foreigners.

Woven into
the narrative is also his romance with the classical dancer Lakshmi, his
relationship with his wife, song and dance routines shot on a gigantic scale,
and endless action scenes.

What is
nice about Syeraa Narasimha Reddy is
that it tells the story of an anti-British rebellion from southern India. The
popular discourse in large parts of India tends to focus on the
contributions and achievements of North Indians, not just in India’s freedom
struggle but in all matters. In this context, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy is significant. But it squanders away
that plus point with the WAY it tells its story.

As it
turns out, the primary goal of this film is to underline Chiranjeevi’s star
stature. More effort has been invested in creating a spectacle rather than
in writing in-depth characters. Reddy is built up as a saintly He Man with
superhuman strength and yogic powers. He is projected as SO INVINCIBLE, that
his ultimate defeat seems unconvincing even though it is spelt out as a
historical fact.

To give
the film scale, Chiranjeevi is surrounded by multiple major stars from
Tamannaah to Nayanthara, Sudeep, Vijay Sethupathi, Amitabh Bachchan,
Anushka Shetty and ... well, the list is long. Except for Tamannaah and
Bachchan to some extent, the others are given short shrift by the screenplay.

This story
has huge potential for social insights, but director Surender Reddy is too busy
lionising Syeraa Narasimha Reddy and Chiranjeevi. Therefore the film
offers us little understanding of the class and caste struggles involved.
Realism and facts are not a priority in this revisionist historical
drama.

As far as
technical aspects go, the lavish production design and costumes
are eye-catching, but the special effects are of confusing quality. Some night-time
scenes are wonderfully impressive, but some scenes are surprisingly mediocre.
The SFX in that long passage involving bulls, for instance, is
embarrassingly tacky.

The
overall tone of the narrative is loud, rubbing every point, every message in
our faces.

For
hard-core Chiranjeevi fans, perhaps there is some pay off here since their
favourite star dominates the film in a role designed to overshadow all
else on screen. That apart, Syeraa
Narasimha Reddy is a generic, uninspiring film that lacks soul.

**** ****

Now on to
writer-director Vetrimaaran’s Asuran.

From the
moment he grabbed the spotlight with Aadukalam
early this decade, Vetrimaaran has made his own road. With Asuran he offers a stellar redefinition of Big Cinema in the Indian
context.

There is a
tendency in our country to assume that if a film revolves around caste or
exploitation of any form, then it cannot take on the trappings that give
mainstream Indian cinema its larger-than-life feel. With Asuran, Vetrimaaran walks a fine line to ensure that his hero is
projected as a giant among men without trivialising the struggles of a
marginalised community or making him appear so unconquerable that his defeats
become hard to swallow.

Dhanush
plays Sivasamy whose impoverished family is engaged in a feud with a
powerful land-owning family in the area. Initially, Sivasamy comes across as a
pacifist. His sons are frustrated with his keenness to avoid violence. Later
though, he introduces us to his defiant past and the havoc his defiance wreaked
on those around him.

Dhanush’s
remarkable physical transformation is not the only indicator of the passage of
time in Asuran. His is a richly
detailed character that evolves too as the story runs along. Even when he
metamorphoses into a roaring lion on screen, his brilliant acting, the
direction and the writing ensure that he remains believable.

Although Sivasamy
is the central figure, the screenplay works hard to develop the characters of
his wife Pachiammal, two sons, brother-in-law and antagonists. The excellent
supporting cast does full justice to the writing. But none of the stars
overshadows the film’s story or messaging.

Malayalam
superstar Manju Warrier in particular deserves to be singled out for her deeply
felt, relatable performance as Pachiammal in a film that marks her Tamil debut.
She is so good, that you have to wonder why even progressive filmmakers like
Vetrimaaran tend to think in terms of male-centric stories.

Hello and
welcome to this new film review segment in Colours of India. My name is Anna
M.M. Vetticad.

On this
show we are celebrating the great diversity of Indian cinema. And so today, I
will speak to you about the Tamil film Super
Deluxe and the Malayalam film Thanneermathan Dinangal.

Super Deluxe is directed by Thiagarajan
Kumararaja and has a large cast packed with stars.

This is a
film with a multi-strand narrative. Its four strands – or sub-plots if you
prefer to call it that – are connected in unexpected ways.

The first
strand features an unhappily married couple played by Samantha Akkineni and
Fahadh Faasil. The two are trying to get rid of a corpse without being caught.

The second
strand is about a little boy awaiting the return of a father who abandoned him
years earlier. When the Dad finally comes home, it turns out that he is now a
trans woman who goes by the name Shilpa.

Shilpa is
played by Vijay Sethupathi.

The third
sub-plot involves a group of teenaged boys off to watch a porn film in secret.

The fourth
stars Ramya Krishnan as a woman who works in porn films.

Super Deluxe has a beautifully balanced tone.
On the one hand it is extremely funny. On the other hand it is extremely
sensitive while dealing with serious subjects like compatibility in marriage,
the marginalisation of the LGBT+ community, sexual violence and the hypocrisy
of men who want their OWN mothers to be devis
though they take OTHER women lightly.

I could
not relate much to the switch to fantasy towards the end of the story about the
porn-watching boys, but there is SO MUCH to love in this film.

The
performances in Super Deluxe are
top-notch. The one that has got most attention since its release is Vijay
Sethupathi playing a trans woman. Now in an ideal world, TRANS actors would
play TRANS characters. Indian cinema has not yet got to that stage, with rare
exceptions like last year’s Malayalam film Aabhaasam
which starred the trans actor Sheetal Shyam. What we have in most of our films
is MALE actors playing trans characters. Till we get to a more evolved stage in
our casting, it is worth pointing out that a major male star playing a trans
character seriously risks denting his ‘macho’ image in our patriarchal society.
So this too is perhaps worth celebrating as a baby step forward since our
society prefers to pretend that the trans community does not even exist.

One of the
most moving aspects of Super Deluxe
is the little boy Raasukutty’s absolutely non-judgemental response when he
finds that the man who fathered him is in fact a woman.

Raasukutty
is my personal hero. And his non-judgemental mother is my heroine.

Super Deluxe is now streaming on Netflix.

It is
funny, it is brave, it is thought-provoking, and frankly, it is an act of
social rebellion as much as it is a film.

****
****

Thanneermathan Dinangal literally
means Watermelon Days. The title comes from the large quantities of watermelon
juice that the hero consumes at the food kiosk next to his school. He goes
there on a regular basis to pour his heart out to his gang of friends.

Mathew
Thomas plays the teenaged hero Jaison who is struggling with multiple teenaged
problems. He is in love with his classmate Keerthy, played by Anaswara Rajan,
who is not interested in him. He is being tormented by the school bully. He is
struggling with exams. And as if life is not tough enough, a new teacher starts
picking on him and him alone.

Thanneermathan Dinangal is sweet
without being sugary.

The lead
actors are cute without being overly cutesy.

And
although it is hilarious, it does not trivialise the problems of teenagers.

In fact
the beauty of this film is that it plays out so naturally that it feels as if
real people allowed the filmmaker to place cameras around their homes and
school to capture what is going on in their real lives.

This is a
thinking comedy. In a country where we are used to commercial cinema showing
men stalking women that they like and portraying that stalking as a legitimate
form of courtship, Jaison and Keerthy from Thanneermathan Dinangal hold out a lesson for filmmakers. In fact
one of the most striking aspects of this film is a young girl telling a young
boy that she likes him BECAUSE he did not pester her when she turned down his
romantic overtures.

Thanneermathan Dinangal is one of
those rewarding films that is thoroughly enjoyable and also has a very
important point to make.

About Me

Anna MM Vetticad is an award-winning journalist, journalism teacher and author of the critically acclaimed bestseller The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic, an overview of the Hindi film industry presented through an account of a year in which she watched every single Bollywood film released in India’s National Capital Region. A journalist since 1994, she has worked with India Today, The Indian Express and Headlines Today. At HT she hosted her own interview show Star Trek which drew all India’s eminent entertainment personalities. While Anna has spent most of her career as a behind-the-scenes editorial person, she has also reported on most major Indian entertainment and lifestyle events and several international ones including Cannes and the Oscars, in addition to being the film critic for Headlines Today. She is currently reporting and writing for multiple publications on cinema and social issues with a focus on gender concerns. The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic is available on amazon.com, ebay.in, flipkart.com, ombooksinternational.com, ombooks.com, infibeam.com, homeshop18.com and dialabook.in among other websites, and in stores across India. Twitter: @annavetticad